1,426. Beginning Hilchos Ishus

Hilchos Megillah v’Chanukah 4:14

If a person has to choose between lighting Shabbos candles or lighting the menorah, or if he has to choose between lighting Shabbos candles or wine for kiddush, in these cases oil for Shabbos candles takes priority because it engenders peace in the home (shalom bayis). We see how important peace is from the fact that God’s Name was permitted to be erased (as part of the sotah process) in order to help restore peace between a man and his wife. In fact, the entire Torah was given in order to bring peace to the world, as per Proverbs 3:17, “Its ways are pleasant ways and all its paths are peace.”

This concludes Sefer Zmanim, the third book of the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah.

Hilchos Ishus 1:1

Before the Torah was given, if a man met a woman and they wanted to get married, he would simply bring her home, they would privately engage in marital relations and she would then be his wife. When the Torah was given, the Jews were commanded that a man must marry a woman in the presence of witnesses in order for her to become his wife. This is implied by Deuteronomy 22:13, “When a man takes a wife and has relations with her....”